I thought it would be easiest to draw you a picture...
Pascale, Nikki, Marc, Genevieve, Me
On Friday I met up with a few buds to pre-ride the Hammerfest XC course and it was a BE-yutiful day! WOW...I got my first sunkiss of the year!
Pre-riding the course turned out to be the best idea EVER (thanks Pascale) as it allowed me to ride that much harder/smarter on Sunday. Knowing where the ups and downs are makes all the difference on race day.
The race was super fun- just like the pre-ride but with a little more patience at the start as we all found our places in the line and a little more juice on the rest of the course:)
I was cautious at the start line and a bit intimidated by all the fast XC bikes (hello hardtails everywhere) and the super matchy matchy spandex crowd. So, I seeded myself at the very back of the Intermediate grouping (right in front of the 10 year old boys). Turns out those flashy spandex outfits don't tell much about riding ability:)
I was happy to be held back at the start cause I don't have any experience pacing for a mt. bike race. But after a few minutes I was chomping at the bit to use my climbing ability to my benefit. Once the incline increased riders pulled aside and we all found our spot in the group so we all had a tonne of room after that.
Climb...Descent...Climb...Climb...Descent...Descent...whoohooo! 1:22ish.
Got back to the start/finish and there were already some super fast girlies from the Expert course across the line! Now that is inspiring!!
I decided to go for an hour run back up to the power lines (Beginner course summitt) to get my brick in and after about 15minutes my legs felt just fantastic:) It was very peaceful climbing back up to the top via the single track after hammering for over an hour.
But when I got back for prizes...everyone was gone! So, I had no idea how I did until now...http://www.islandcupseries.com/island-cup-results.cfm
Intermediate Women:: Second Place finisher! Right behind a fast 14 year old !! Wow...humbling...
Nikki raced Expert and Marc rode Intermediate mens and they both did AWESOME!
The race was a blast and I would do it again in a heartbeat- totally recommend it to anyone who wants to improve their riding speed.
Getting to the race, however, was another adventure all together...
Saturday night I noticed this beautiful gash in my tire...
Luckily Nikki & Marc had a spare to bring down from Courtenay for me...THANK YOU!Sunday Morning: went out to cheer on the ELM Women in the TC10K race and noticed...my CAR was missing!
The race volunteers were super and looked into it for me...turns out I was TOWED to a nearby neighbourhood! Ran around the block with a mug of tea and my camera trying to find my car without missing the race start... FOUND IT! Saw the race start, packed up, and made it to Erington in time for Hammerfest race start. Phew!
TC 10K PICS:
BOOTCAMP PICS
Have a great week!
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